The `.deb`#

wheelhouse-agent_<version>_<arch>.deb is the whole product minus the base: the agent binary, the built web UI, the installer, the seed tooling, the OPNsense importer, four systemd units and the licence files. It is built by packaging/build-deb.py, which is Python standard library only — no dpkg-deb, no build dependencies, no toolchain in CI.

Installing it on a running router reloads the units, starts the console-banner timer and restarts the agent, so an upgrade takes effect without a reboot.

Control fields#

Package: wheelhouse-agent
Version: <version>
Architecture: <arch>
Maintainer: <set by --maintainer>
Installed-Size: <computed>
Depends: bash, python3, dialog, curl
Section: net
Priority: optional
Homepage: https://releases.rhymelikedi.me
Description: Wheelhouse router control plane (agent + web UI)

Four runtime dependencies, and each earns its place:

Dependency	Needed by
`bash`	The installer, the seed finder, first boot, the console banner, the wait script.
`python3`	`seed-to-answers.py`, `install-driver.py`, the OPNsense importer, and the live-boot check inside the installer.
`dialog`	The interactive installer's whole interface.
`curl`	Fetching a seed or a payload over HTTPS.

Installed-Size is computed from the binary plus the UI tree, in kilobytes, with 64 KB of slack. The Maintainer field comes from --maintainer; the default is a string set in the build script — <TODO: owner> for the address that should be published there.

What it installs#

The full path list, with modes, is on Files and directories. In summary:

Where	What
`/usr/bin/`	`wheelhouse-agent`, `wheelhouse-install`, `wheelhouse-autoinstall`, `wheelhouse-opnsense-import`
`/usr/lib/wheelhouse/`	`firstboot.sh`, `wait-for-vyos.sh`, `console-banner.sh`, `install-driver.py`, `seed-to-answers.py`
`/usr/share/wheelhouse/`	`ui/` and `dialogrc`
`/lib/systemd/system/`	three services and one timer
`/lib/systemd/system-generators/`	`wheelhouse-live-installer`
`/usr/share/doc/wheelhouse-agent/`	`copyright` and `README`

Enabled by symlink#

The package does not run systemctl enable. It ships the symlinks directly:

/etc/systemd/system/multi-user.target.wants/wheelhouse-agent.service
/etc/systemd/system/multi-user.target.wants/wheelhouse-firstboot.service
/etc/systemd/system/multi-user.target.wants/wheelhouse-console.service
/etc/systemd/system/timers.target.wants/wheelhouse-console.timer

That is what lets the same package be installed inside a live-build chroot, where systemctl cannot talk to anything.

`postinst` and `prerm`#

# postinst
set -e
if [ "$1" = configure ] && [ -d /run/systemd/system ]; then
    systemctl daemon-reload || true
    systemctl start wheelhouse-console.timer || true
    systemctl try-restart wheelhouse-agent.service || true
fi
exit 0

# prerm
set -e
if [ -d /run/systemd/system ] && [ "$1" = remove ]; then
    systemctl stop wheelhouse-agent.service || true
fi
exit 0

Both are guarded on /run/systemd/system and every call is allowed to fail, because inside the image build there is no systemd to talk to. try-restart rather than restart: an agent that was deliberately stopped stays stopped.

README is the file Documentation= on every unit points at. It is the one place on a running box that says what this thing is, what it is built on, and where the corresponding source lives — because the forge is private and a URL is no substitute for a file.

What an upgrade does not do#

Removing the package stops the agent and removes the files it owns. It does not remove /config/wheelhouse, and it does not undo the configuration nodes first boot committed — the API key, the REST switch and the loopback binding stay in the router's configuration.

Building one#

bash

(cd ui && npm ci && npm run build)
(cd agent && CGO_ENABLED=0 GOOS=linux GOARCH=amd64 \
  go build -trimpath -ldflags="-s -w -X main.version=1.2.3" -o wheelhouse-agent-amd64 .)
packaging/build-deb.py --version 1.2.3 --arch amd64 \
  --binary agent/wheelhouse-agent-amd64 --ui ui/dist --out dist/

Option	Default	Meaning
`--version`	(required)	Goes into the control file and the file name.
`--arch`	`amd64`	`amd64` or `arm64`.
`--binary`	(required)	The built agent for that architecture.
`--ui`	(required)	`ui/dist`. Refused if it holds no `index.html`.
`--out`	`.`	Output directory.
`--maintainer`	a string in the script	The Debian `Maintainer` field.

SOURCE_DATE_EPOCH sets the timestamp stamped into every archive member, so the same inputs produce the same bytes.

Architectures#

amd64 and arm64 packages are both built. That is not the same as an arm64 product: there is no arm64 image and no VM image of any kind. The arm64 package exists for running the agent off-router against an arm64 router. The supported install is amd64 UEFI.

Inspecting one#